Two men have been arrested as part of an investigation into alleged criminal activity within the Police Ombudsman’s office.

The pair, aged 62 and 67, were detained in England on Tuesday and brought to Northern Ireland for questioning by detectives from the PSNI’s Serious Crime Branch.

Both men are now to be reported to the Public Prosecution Service regarding perverting the course of justice and misconduct in public office.

The PSNI says the arrests are part of an investigation into alleged criminal activity in the Police Ombudsman’s office linked to an Ombudsman investigation into the police handling of the so-called Derry four case.

That case involved four Derry men wrongly accused of murdering a British soldier in the 1970s

Their treatment by the RUC was investigated by the Police Ombudsman and, in 2012, the matter was referred to the Public Prosecution Service. The PPS decided to bring charges against two former RUC detectives. However, this prosecution later collapsed after no evidence was offered against the police officers.

Subsequently, it emerged that a former investigator with the police watchdog could face criminal charges over his handling of the case. The Ombudsman’s Office confirmed it had referred its own investigation to the PSNI to consider if any of its staff had broken the law.